Through the practice of DUTRISU accumulation following the "The Lamp that Dispels Darkness and Purifies Obscurations" we purify negative emotions, and overcome both temporal and spiritual obstacles. Temporal obstacles are obstacles caused by deep-seated negative karma or suddenly arising obstacles like an illness or other calamity. Spiritual obstacles are obstacles that prevent our spiritual development. Traditionally it is very popular to use this practice to heal illnesses.

This practice includes a surchöd offering and jyangbu ritual (to guide the consciousness of the deceased) that are specifically intended to support and help deceased beings who are in the Bardo state.

The source of this practice and its main deity is Kuntu Zangpo.

The main mantra is the DUTRISU mantra, one of the 3 essential mantras of Bön.

The practice was transmitted in a direct oral transmission by Nyamme Sherab Gyaltsen to Kundün Sönam Lodrö, the 22nd abbot of Menri monastery.

The immediate benefit in our lives of participating in this practice is that it will bring peace of mind and pacify our negative emotions; this peace of mind will enable our concentration; and concentration will improve the quality of our meditation.

During the ceremony we will perform the complete DUTRISU ritual once every day and once every night, while also reciting the mantra day and night, without interruption.

Anyone can connect to the ritual who can be present personally every morning and evening, from 7 am and from 8 pm through live stream.

Tomorow, Friday afternoon, at 3 pm Yongdzin Rinpoche will join us and we will perform, under his guidance, a part of "jyangbu" ritual. You can follow it through live stream. You will find the link on our website www.shenten.org

On Saturday morning at 7 am we will have a ganapuja (it will not be streamed) and at 10 am Yongdzin Rinpoche will start giving the Initiation. It will be streamed with the exception of Phowa ritual.

Today, Amchi Namse from the medical school associated with Triten Norbutse Monastery, jointly with Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche who translated for him, explained basics of Tibetan Medicine related to making “ribu” pills which will be blessed as a part of the upcoming DUTRISU Ceremony.

So-called ‘precious pills’, also known as ‘jewel pills’ (rin chen ril bu), constitute an important remedy for a variety of diseases and ailments.
1 They are generally called precious pills or jewel pills because they consist of many precious ingredients, including the famous processed ‘mercury sulfide ash’ (btso thal).
2 Some consider precious pills to be the most potent drug Tibetan medicine has to offer.
3 This can be seen in the statement made by Dr Lobsang Dolma Khangkar for the English-reading public:

All of these ingredients are considered to be blessed by an enlightened being, by a Buddha, and then they are prepared and made into one pill. The attitude which the doctor must have toward this medicine is that, since the ingredients of this medicine have been blessed by Buddha, the medicines will not only cure the patient from the three diseases of rlung, mkhris-pa and bad-kan but will also extend the patient’s life and finally become the seed for the patient to realise the importance of obtaining enlightenment for the benefit of others and to reach the supreme state of Buddhahood.

This medicine is like a blessing which enters into the stream of the patient’s being. In Tibet, where the distances are vast and there is no means of easy communication with a person who lives in a place where there is no doctor, taking just one such pill as a blessing from the Buddha is done in the case of serious illness or before death.

Such appreciation for the precious nature of these pills has a profound impact on their usage and, most likely, also their efficacy. In the case of the Tibet Autonomous Region (tar) in China, as observed by Theresia Hofer, they ‘are now also sold on a large scale as over-the-counter (otc) drugs through various pharmacies and shops all over town, with buyers often not having had a prior clinical consultation’.5 The demand for these pills is high, which also results in a high price. This is also influenced by the fact that some of the ingredients are rare, come from endangered species, or are today regarded as toxic and need to be substituted because of the introduction of Good Manufacturing Practice (gmp) in 2003.6 They are of immense importance for the Tibetan community in India and elsewhere throughout the world.7 In Tibetan communities both inside and outside Tibet, precious pills are regarded as the true essence of Tibetan medical culture.

While some studies have described various aspects of precious pills from an anthropological perspective, none of them have yet presented the writings of Tibetan scholar-physicians from the past—both recent and distant—even though some of the most important scholars and practioners in the history of Tibetan medicine have written on the subject. To fill this gap, the present paper explores the ways in which these special pills have been administered to ensure maximum efficacy. As will be presented in more detail below, the steps of dispensation generally include:

(1) certain preliminary practices for the patient,
(2) a complex ritual performed by the doctor to ensure the purity and the efficacy of the precious pills,
(3) the highly ritualised administration of the pills involving both patient and doctor,
(4) the period after the administration when the patient has to follow specific lifestyle and dietary regulations that are necessary to ensure the long-term efficacy of the pills. The paper concludes with the general benefits of the jewel pills that, for instance, can also be worn as amulets. This study is based on an analysis of seven works written by famous scholar-physicians. They are the only known treatises that specifically deal with the administration of precious pills: